Notes / Commercial Description:
HERCULES DOUBLE IPA is not for the faint of heart. It is, however, fit for the gods. HERCULES delivers a huge amount of hops from start to finish. Its hefty backbone of nutty, malty sweetness balances its aggressive hop profile. 85 IBUs.

Reviews by Dwtucker90:

More User Reviews:

Thanks to hoppedup for the bottle,pours a slightly hazy deep orange with a tight one finger head that leaves a nice sheet of lace behind.Wow this puppy is hopped to the tilt intense orange and lemon hit with an underlying pine,big juicy citrusy flavors just bursting out at ya i do notice a touch of nutty malt it barely holds up to the intense hoppiness but its there.A slight alcohol burn is noticable not bad in any way,this beer is bad ass and takes no prisoners,hell yeah.

Appearance - This one came out of the bottle an intimidating, deep hazy orange with some brown influences. The liquid is thick, thick, thick. The color showed a lot of depth and was very inviting. The head was modest but well-tanned and left some nice lacing on the inside of my Ruination glass.

Smell - This is a big, heavy, monster nose. There is just tons and tons of caramel and toffee in here. The hops are complex and huge as well. I can pick up some good pine sap along with some big citrus and a few other notes that give a lot of depth to this gigantic bouquet. All in all, this is one of the biggest, most-balanced ADIPA noses that I've ever smelled.

Taste - The taste follows the nose except the malts are noticeably dominant. For all the hops here, they take a back seat to the huge, luscious, gooey caramel and toffee malt presence.

Mouthfeel - This is big and full-bodied. I'm talking Pliny the Younger big. They should serve this at Ruth Chris' with a side of mashed potatoes. Forget the knife and fork; give me the classic 1970's-style electric turkey carving knife.

As big and chewy as this is, it's not overly dry. The finish has some dryness, but this one finishes with a super-sugary caramel sweetness. Very nice.

Eatability - Don't try to drink Hercules with a meal like I did. This is your dinner.

Comments - What a great treat! I'll offer a big thumbs up to BuckeyeNation for sending this out my way.

Update - They finally got this in SoCal in the fall of 2010. This is an amazing beer to say the least. The head was much improved from my initial review, which leads me to believe that the beer suffered a bit from the trip from Ohio. That said, the balance of this ale is amazing and the flavors are beyond reproach. There's really nothing else like it out there in the beer world. It makes the case for a huge DIPA but with grass and flowers instead of the triple C's and gooey malts. It is like no other double that I've ever had and is in a class all by itself. Especially unique is the nose that is very herbal and spicy yet also has a classic DIPA aroma. The aftertaste BTW will entertain you for hours.

Pint straight off the tap into a nice tumbler at a fine restaurant. This was a disappointment, mainly because I felt the taste wasn't well balanced. There's definitely a strong hop profile here - it has that sort of "grainy" mouth feel and sharp bitterness that I don't care for in many strong IPA's. It would have been much better for me if there was more balance with smooth malts and more character with the complex citrus notes that were absent. At 10.0ABV this should have been much "juicier" but the nose revealed more of just another strong run of the mill IPA with lots of alcohol.
I'm not gonna talk it down too much - I think this is just one example of an IPA that didn't suit my taste.

Pours a medium copper amber with medium white head. Smell is very unusual in that it has a grape aroma mixed in a hop forward nose. Reminds me more of a barleywine nose. Sweeter scent mixed in the nose that I can't put my finger on, almost a licorice candy, with slight sweet bread note. Taste has a distinct malt presence that reminds me of malted milk ball. Unusual for a DIPA to be so malt heavy with little hop bitterness to the palate. It's difficult to sort out the different flavors as a result. This is one I need to come back to when it comes out fresh.

Poured a hazy golden orange with a huge off white fluffy cloud into a tulip glass at Romans Pub in South Milwaukee. Beautiful bright orange hues. Head is luscious, thick, lasting, fragrant, and creamy. This looks great! Nose is wonderful too. Balanced citrus, floral, pine, juniper, and grassy hops. Taste is just as well balanced. A refreshing juicy fruit hop front matches the spicy pine and tangerine hop bitterness in the middle and finish. Body is full, creamy, and smooth. Drinkability is nuts considering the IBV and ABV, almost as good as Dreadnaught. This is extremely tasty stuff and ever so creamy and luscious feeling. I love it.

Thanks, Mike! Can't believe I put this one off for so long. Pretty damn close to complete opacity here, copper and orange-ish glowing from the core outwards, topped off with a silky and foamy, dingy white head. The creme top lasts for quite a while and leaves some pretty impressive lace rings down the sides of the glass. Always nice to see for a Double IPA.

The aroma... Oh, man. I can already tell from the very first sniff that I'm not going to love this beer. Lots and lots of malt. Malty sweet. Caramel malts, a hint of toffee, and quite nutty. Not to be a complete downer, however, as hops are still present. This is a Double IPA, after all. Floral, faint citrus, and some bitter orange peel with a touch of ashy pepper. It's got an impressive hop bill possibly, but I can already sense the sweetness.

Sure enough, the first sip is loaded with sweet caramel malts, the stickiness being exacerbated by the thick and viscous body of the beer. Some green and leafy hop notes play around on the palate, and possibly a touch of bitter citrus peel, but really, the malts are completely dominant in this one. Sweet and sticky toffee and baked bread and caramel. And it's not like this beer is too far over the hill - only about three months out. I have a feeling this sucker is pretty sweet during week one.

I will say, in Hercules' defense, that this beer handles the sweetness a little better than others I've seen. Many "heavy" DIPAs (or "T"IPAs as some might say) seem to be "accidentally" malty. An amped up malt bill to "balance" the hops. But it really just ends up drowning them out completely, and you end up with a messy beer and an unplanned, sticky malt bill. Hercules realizes that it's a big, sweet DIPA, and the malt bill, though it's not what I'm looking for in a DIPA, is at least somewhat pleasant to my taste buds.

There's also a bit of a phenolic and peppery flavor that waxes as the beer gets warmer, so you might want to drink this one on the colder side. As I mentioned before, it's not awful. It's drinkable, to a certain degree. But overall, it's disappointing if you're expecting a Double IPA (which you should be, because that's how it's labeled). Too sweet and malty, this could pass for a hoppy American Barleywine (Bigfoot, anyone?) and it might received a bump in ratings.

Pours an overcast orange with a meaty head that dwindles to an off-white swirl of melted ice milk. The glass is held together by pretty white lace that clings in all the right places.

Aroma is dirty C-hops rich with malt. You've definitely got your grapefruit citrus in the house, but the piney hops are more cone than needles.

Lots of slick acidic Lupulin. More malt presence than most American DIPAs.

Mouthfeel is cream-filled. Full and feathery soft fades to a slow acidic Humulene chemical burn.

This brew takes an interesting approach to the DIPA style shooting for a very active nutty maltiness in the forefront to bring equilibrium to the loaded hops. The result however I think emphasizes the somewhat unpleasant oil-like burn brought by DIPA level hop rate. By choosing to not showcase the hop aroma and flavor as prominently as others this beer has taken away from itself an important component that makes heavy-hitting IPAs so enjoyable.

Generally I'm a huge fan of their big brews but this was just an average Double IPA, not my favorite.

Poured from a 22 oz. bomber into a tulip glass. A dark, opaque, tawny orange with a thick finger of head, which dissapates into a steady thin layer. Smell is of roasted malts, butter and caramel appear as it warms, but very little hop aroma. There is plenty of hop bitterness in the flavor to balance out heavy malt character but I expected more distinction from the hops. Mouthfeel is a bit harsh up front, tangy towards the end. The 9.1% isn't hidden all that well, not that I really care. I'm 1/4 deep in the bomber and it's already sneaking up on me.

All in all, a glorious way to spend a Friday afternoon off from work. For what it is (an ass-kicker DIPA), it follows through pretty well, but I'd trade some ABV for hop character.

App- There is a huge, sheberty head on this beautiful beer. Crystal-clear amber color, respectable lacing, even on my family's head-hostile glassware.

Nose- Extremely inviting cinnemon, deep beady malt, and grapefruit.

Taste- Ballanced, mellow. Begins with hop bitter, juicy crystal malt, and slight yeast bite all stacked. Big hop bitter slowly cascades over other flavors, but never quite suppresses the exceptional malt character of this beer. It is a great, robust, toffee/ bready malt flavor. I get slight spiciness as the beer warms. Aftertase is strongly resinous hop bitter, pehaps with a wisp of alcohol. Moutheel is perfect wieght and has a nice level of sticky.

If you are looking for a double IPA that blows your mind with a spectrum of hop characters, this is not your beer. However I can not think of a Double IPA I have had that brings, bigger, fuller, flavors, foregounds the bitter, achieves balance, and maintains drinkability better than this beer. While it is by no means the main character, the malt flavor here really makes this beer stand out among others in its style. The only thing keeping me from giving this a 5 for taste is I would like at least one identifiable hop chaacter besides straight bitter.

A: pours a peach-tea color from the 22oz brown
bomber. There is no head but there are
active carbonation bubbles working overtime.

S: very strong hop nose of pine needles and
undertones of malt and grass. This brew
smells like the pine forest in my backyard.

T: Slap in the face with a pine branch! The 85
IBU seems underreprestative of this awesome
AIPA. There is some malt sweetness that
fights its way through the hop. The alcohol
his understated in its flavor but very
obvious by the end of the 22oz. bottle.

M: Great body on this AIPA, with an almost
creamy texture that is a nice surprise in
this style. The ability of this brew to
be so bold in its presence without being
syrupy is a great achievment.